Ideas, inspirations and discussionson creating better, smarter cities

Bicycle Advocacy Archive

Today was the first sock-soaker of the year—despite wearing rainpants and a hooded raincoat, I squished-squished as I walked into my first stop of the day. Despite the rain, there was a steady stream (pun!) of people cycling across the Hawthorne Bridge. By the time I got there around 8:30 am, the bike counter had registered 1986 that day already. Not quite the numbers of summer when almost 3000 riders would have crossed by that time of morning but a good showing for a dark, very wet day in October.

Ciclovia is a Latin American phenomena originating over 30 years ago in Bogotà, Colombia where some streets are closed to allow people to walk, cycle, skate or stroll without traffic. Or, as the advocates would say, Ciclovias “open” the streets…

Portland State’s Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation invited Jean Francois Provenent of Velò Quebec to speak on cycling in Montreal and Quebec. This was my preconception of biking in Montreal… Creative Commons: Mikeygottowa

One would think that by 1990, the year I helped start up the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and 20 years since the passage of Oregon’s landmark “Bicycle Bill,” that every street and highway in Oregon would include sidewalks and bike lanes…

The French and bicycles bring so many conflicting images to my mind. The iconic photo of the Frenchman riding a country road with the obligatory baguette sticking out of the basket, in stark contrast to Daniel Behrman‘s horror stories of 1960s Paris in his classic, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, of the scurrying bicycle mounted serfs scattering before the car-crazed on the Champs Elysees. Then I read of Paris, Paris!, putting in a massive Bike sharing program, following the lead of Lyon and then being joined by Nice, Toulouse, Rennes, La Rochelle, Orléans, Montpellier, Lille and Aix-en-Provence.

Bicycle helmets are kind of like those airplane seat cushion “flotation devices.” They are endlessly hyped yet rarely needed and of dubious usefulness when deployed. Whether crashing at sea or getting hit by a speeding car, neither the seat cushion nor the bike helmet will save your life. Its funny, we heavily regulate airplane design […]

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Why Getting to 2100? The next century will be a test: can humans use their intelligence and foresight to successfully transition from our consumption-fueled economy to one that balances the needs of humans with the Earth’s available resources. Getting to 2100 aims to be a forum for sharing of good ideas and good works. Got a good example or a new idea? Share it with the world!